Silent Thunder
– Loren D. Estleman
This is the ninth mystery to star the series hero Amos
Walker. In the hard-boiled manner of Raymond Chandler’s Phil Marlowe, Walker
drinks like a fish, smokes like a chimney, shoots straight as an arrow, and
cracks as wise as … an owl?
Walker is hired as a freelancer by a large security firm.
The behemoth assigns him to investigate Doyle Thayer Junior. His widow
Constance has admitted to killing Junior but claims his history of abusing her
drove her to plug him fatally in self-defense. Building an argument for
self-defense, her lawyer wants Walker to dig up dirt on the dead husband so
that the jury will be grateful to the widow for removing such a menace to
society. Inarguably, Thayer Junior was a threat to himself and others because
he collected enough weapons to stock an arsenal and he partied like it was
1989. Alcohol, clubbing, testosterone, and negligent firearms safety practices were as
volatile a mix then as it is nowadays.
Walker’s investigation takes him to the market in illegal
guns. His nearly paid-for Chevy is raked by M-16 fire by a hooded quartet. After
getting bonked on the head by a knuckle-walker, Walker is comforted by the
widow. Not just with iodine.
The language is rough, various scenes feature gun
violence. The grim attitudes reflect the noir fallacy that the world is more
dangerous than it really is. The reveal centers around a villain whose plot is
as grandiose as any Bond-movie megalomaniac.
But Estleman's hard-boiled mystery never fails to entertain.
Walker, like Lew Archer, has soul and quick wit, though realistic and tough.
The references to SE Michigan and uses of local lingo such as “up north” will
appeal to Downriver born and bred readers like me.
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